Fig. 2
Optic nerve stimulation evokes primarily excitatory responses to SCN target regions. a Schematic of the recording configuration for experiments using optic nerve stimulation (left) and pie charts illustrating proportions of responding cells (n.r. indicates no response) following optic nerve stimulation and SCN stimulation performed at an equivalent time of day (slices prepared ZT1-3). Data analysed by χ2 test (P = 0.004) followed by Fisher’s exact tests for cells exhibiting inhibitory/GABAergic and excitatory/glutamatergic responses. b Peri-stimulus raster for two representative cells exhibiting excitatory responses to optic nerve stimulation before and after treatment with inotropic glutamate (iGlu-X; 50 μm D-AP5 and 20 μm CNQX) and/or GABA receptor antagonists (BIC; 20 μm (+)-bicuculline). c Mean ± SEM responses of neurons exhibiting excitatory responses to optic nerve stimulation (n = 10) in the presence and absence of inotropic glutamate and/or GABA receptor antagonists. Data analysed by mixed-effects linear model (F3,33.3 = 10.3; P < 0.001) with Sidak’s post-tests. *** = P < 0.001 vs. baseline (BL). ## = P < 0.01 vs. BIC. Raw data values used for statistical analysis can be found in Additional file 8.